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Coahuilaceratops

Loewen et al., 2010 co-wah-WEE-lah-SEH-ruh-tops

Named after Coahuila, the state in northern Mexico where the fossils were found, + Greek ceratops ('horned face'), meaning 'horned face from Coahuila'.

83.6–66.0 million years ago Campanian–Maastrichtian, Late Cretaceous
Late Cretaceous stages

Coahuilaceratops is a genus of chasmosaurine ceratopsian dinosaur that lived during the Late Cretaceous in what is now northern Mexico. It contains a single species, Coahuilaceratops magnacuerna.

Diagnosis

  1. Triangular premaxillary flange with a large ventrolaterally directed facet, contrasting with the ventromedially directed facet in all other chasmosaurine taxa
  2. Premaxilla caudoventral process with ventrolateral surface dorsoventrally flattened (thicker transversely than dorsoventrally), unlike other chasmosaurines
  3. Triangular flange caudal to narial strut hyperrobust in cross-section, much more so than in most or all other chasmosaurine taxa
  4. Supraorbital horncores hyperrobust with a maximum diameter of ~15 cm and relatively little tapering in the proximal portion
  5. Nasal process of rostrum with dorsalmost preserved portion straight rather than caudally curved, unlike virtually all other chasmosaurines

Species

Coahuilaceratops magnacuerna Loewen et al., 2010

Type species

Named for the large size of the animal's horns, combining the Latin 'magna' meaning 'great' and the Spanish 'cuerna' meaning 'horn'.

Holotype
CPC 276 , Colección Paleontológica de Coahuila, Museo del Desierto (MUDE)
Material
Disarticulated elements of a single large adult: rostral, left premaxilla, right maxilla, fused nasals, partial supraorbital horncores, part of the parietosquamosal frill, predentary, both dentaries, and postcranial elements.
Horizon
middle Cerro del Pueblo Formation, Campanian–Maastrichtian, Late Cretaceous , 83.6–66.0 million years ago
Locality
Porvenir de Jalpa, Coahuila, Mexico Loewen and colleagues (2010) place the holotype at about the 230 m level of the "Campanian Cerro del Pueblo Formation" and estimate its age at about 72.0 Ma, within the formation's 72.5 to 71.4 Ma.

References

  1. Loewen, M. A.; Sampson, S. D.; Lund, E. K.; Farke, A. A.; Aguillón-Martínez, M. C.; de Leon, C. A.; Rodríguez-de la Rosa, R. A.; Getty, M. A.; Eberth, D. A. (2010). Horned dinosaurs (Ornithischia: Ceratopsia) from the Upper Cretaceous (Campanian) Cerro del Pueblo Formation, Coahuila, Mexico. New Perspectives on Horned Dinosaurs: The Royal Tyrrell Museum Ceratopsian Symposium (Ryan, M. J.; Chinnery-Allgeier, B. J.; Eberth, D. A., eds.) 99-116. Indiana University Press, Bloomington. loewen2010a
  2. Paul, G. S. (2024). The Princeton Field Guide to Dinosaurs (3rd ed.). Princeton University Press.

    Source of the appearance features.

    paul2024a